


unfinished business

by Silver_Queen_DoS



Category: Jack Reacher Series - Lee Child
Genre: F/M, Getting Back Together, Post-Canon, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22621486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Queen_DoS/pseuds/Silver_Queen_DoS
Summary: “You know,” he says, hands in his pockets, “you’re not the first person to leave me unfinished work in their will. Can’t say I like it much.”Chang makes a small noise, like tch, like she might have laughed if she had the energy. When she speaks, her voice is raspy. “What, did you want me to leave you my house instead?”
Relationships: Jack Reacher/Michelle Chang
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	unfinished business

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ashling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashling/gifts).



> Prompt; Chang leaves strict instructions that if she dies on a case, her case will be passed on to him, because it’s incredibly important to her and he’s the only one who she trusts to handle it with the right balance of subtlety and savagery. Except she doesn’t die; she falls into a coma.

Michelle Chang is in the hospital bed. She looks thin and pale and small, swamped by the blankets and hospital gown. Her wrist is tiny and the plastic hospital bracelet looks like it might fall off. She still has the thin plastic tube running into her nose, and a IV drip running into the crook of her arm. 

But she’s awake. That’s a damn sight better than the last Reacher saw of her, when he got that desperate last call and made his way here. He’d thought they’d wind up burying her. So had most of the doctors, saying nothing but _we’ll wait and see, only time will tell_ platitudes. 

“You know,” he says, hands in his pockets, “you’re not the first person to leave me unfinished work in their will. Can’t say I like it much.” 

Chang makes a small noise, like _tch_ , like she might have laughed if she had the energy. When she speaks, her voice is raspy. “What, did you want me to leave you my house instead?” 

Reacher waits a beat. “Definitely not. What would I do with a house? Houses are the worst kind of anchor.” 

“My Caribbean bank account?” 

“You still have it?” Reacher asks, stepping into the room and sinking down onto the plastic visitors chair. There’s only one and he angles it awkwardly near the bed. So she doesn’t have to turn much to look at him. “I thought the FBI would have claimed it. _No profit from crime_ , evidence, and all that.” 

“They did,” Chang rasps. “Which means, I guess, that I have fuck all to leave you except work.” She waits a beat. “So?” 

Reacher smiles. “All squared away. You were about two steps from wrapping it all up before they got you. I appreciate the clear notes you left me. Made it real easy to just step in and clean it up.” 

Hidden enough that her enemies couldn’t find them, obvious enough that Reacher could. A hard balance to strike, but Chang was smart. Tough. 

“I learnt from Keever.” Chang manages to shrug one shoulder. “No need for my backup to reinvent the wheel, right?” 

Reacher waits a beat, not really sure what he should say in response. _Should have called for it earlier_ , maybe, but it’s obvious why she didn’t. Chang had always known, maybe even better than he had. _You’re like New York City. I love to visit but I could never live there._

Reacher didn't stay. He travelled and he liked to travel. Being tied down in one place wasn't his style and he didn't want it to be. And that meant he moved on, left people behind, didn't look back to see how they were doing. 

But he hadn’t appreciated the thought of Michelle Chang being dead. It had seemed like a major loss, somehow, despite the fact that they hadn't seen each other in years. 

She'd made an impression on him, the kind of thing that lingered. 

"So what's the plan now?" he asks her. 

She flexes her hands on the pale hospital sheet. The IV tube tugs, slightly, up and down. "I'll be here for a while," she predicts. "Some of us listen to the doctors." 

Reacher scoffs. "I was fine in the end," he says. "And you will be too, now that you're awake. They'll want to observe you for a few days, and then they'll let you go. Then what?" 

He shouldn't ask about her future plans. He shouldn't ask _twice_. That means something. That's almost like making plans himself. Which he doesn't do, not for more than a day in advance. 

"Then what?" Chang asks him back. Calls him on it. Makes him say it. Admit it. 

"We should get dinner," he says. "Once you're out." 

She considers the prospect. Doesn't dismiss it totally out of hand. "Dinner like a date?" she clarifies, the same way she had in Colorado Springs. _To make sure you knew._ No misunderstandings, no dancing around the point. 

"I could think of worse things," Reacher says. Puts the ball back in her court. 

Chang mulls it over. Then smiles. "So could I," she agrees. "Lets get dinner, then. When I'm out." 


End file.
